More Than Meets The Eye Finale - Part 3
Courtyard The courtyard itself is a vast circular area, surrounded by the walls of several buildings and designed as a setting for the magnificent central fountain. A few metal benches are arranged conveniently around the fountain, providing a leisurely, restful ambiance. The courtyard provides a place for quiet, well-kept offices as well as the less noisy and hazardous businesses of Nightsiege, but the skyline isn't quite the same... Two of the larger buildings were recycled for repairs and are no longer there after an Autobot attack. City Commander Ultra Magnus says, "He's probably just gone mad. Considering his mental state -before-, I don't think that's much of a stretch." Breakdown is not quite trusting Arachnae right now, but regardless, He catches up to her and walks along side her, gun drawn. "Man, are you ok? That must have been awful...are yo usure you don't work for the autobots?" Rampage had gotten there in time to see the repulsive Octopoid armor get dealt with. The Predacon doesn't fully understand what was going on here, but hears Galvatron's voice and pauses, uncertain as to what to do next. Soundwave crouches down by Blockbuster, briefly assessing his damage. "Numerous fractures in your armor. I will seal the fractures to help reinforce your armor." Wasting no time, Soundwave gets to work on Blockbuster's armor with a plasma welder and a strip of Cybertronium armor. "You have done well thus far, Blockbuster. This will enable to rejoin combat if necessary." Galvatron stands atop the battlements, hands on his hips and eyes turned to the battle in the sky. Decepticons are all along the walls, weapons primed, charged, and aimed upwards. Soundwave is making field repairs on Blockbuster, Arachnae looks like she might be ill, and the Autobots are struggling with their two suits, which are still fighting with two of their number trapped inside. Soundwave jury-rigs Blockbuster, taking a few moments to patch up some damage. "Hold -on-, Raindance..." As the armor is scorched and damaged, Magnus -leaps- towards it at full tilt, rearing back his right hand. "I'm going to get you -out- of there!" And, with one mighty swing, he attempts to literally PUNCH through the armor, seeking to bypass the exoskeleton itself to try and get a grip on the small transformer within. "HMMMPH!" Albinomus Prime strikes Raindance with Punch and Grab for 7 points of damage. Eagle Armor is deactivated under the fierce barrage of attacks. The octopoid suit lies unmoving on the ground, laid open like a pithed frog pinned onto a dissection tray. Rumble walks over to Soundwave and emits, "Well that was fun." he looks over to the Autobots playing with the other shells, he grins as he says, "Ya need any help boss?" SHUNK* A harpoon shoots through Grimlock's chest. He growls, "HEY! Me just fix that!" He grabs the harpoon with his tiny, impotent T-Rex hand and holds on. Taking advantage of the fishy armor's closeness, Grimlock shows the armor a toothy grin. "Prochickentender? You no taste as good as me think. You but underdone." With that a huge cloud of fire shoots out of his mouth. Grimlock strikes Shark Armor with airplane con carne. Blockbuster lies flat on his back, not bothering to move for the time being. He figures he'll let his internal systems attempt to mend enough for his secondary systems to be able to support his weight once more. So he stares up at the starry sky overhead and amuses himself counting them until the view of Soundwave leaning over him is caught, "Thank you sir..." he utters, the seals preventing the loss of hydraulic pressure and within moments he's sitting up and standing, looking ready for the coming fight. Arachnae sits on the fountain edge and starts wiping gunk off of her. she eyes Breakdown then rasps, voice hoarse, "I Arachnae sits on the fountain edge and starts wiping gunk off of her. she eyes Breakdown then rasps, voice hoarse, "I've been through worse.." Sky Lynx says, "He is decending!" As the shark armor lurches about from Grimlock getting a hold and then from its own counterattack, Fireflight's nosecone gets knocked back and forth enough for the Aerialbot to finally get dislodged. Transforming as soon as he can feel himself slipping, Fireflight grabs onto the shark-thing with one hand and grabs at the injury he made in its belly with the other. Maybe he can help Bluestreak escape from the thing, or at least open up the wound and damage the shell further. Soundwave glances briefly at Rumble. "Cover me in case the Pretender shells decide to attack me." Metal T-Rex says, "Oh look, it Space Kitty. How me beat you here?" Rodimus Prime says, "Don't worry. He'll have to claw it out of my gray, dead hands first." The F-4's nose and tail fold up as white arms and legs emerge from the jet's underbelly. The landing gear retracts as Fireflight's head pops up from the robot torso. Fireflight misses Shark Armor with his Adding Injury to Injury attack. Rumble emits a laugh and says, "Cause boss, Those punks won't come near!" Military CO Grimlock says, "Haw haw, you hands always gray." Magnus's fist penetrates through Raindance's armour, the little tape getting hit in the process, and tumbling out like spilled intestines, as the lights on the suit finally go off, the ravaged battle armour falling to its knees, and then slowly but surely toppling fotwards. Raindance himself looks like someone has repeatedly stamped on him, and he uses the rest of his energy to transform to tape mode. "Don't... don't let Foxfire touch any of my stuff!" he weakly emits before falling silent Twitch watches as the armor finally falls down under the barrage of attacks, letting a sigh of relief out in the process. He finally tilts to one side, losing altitude and lands next to the tape guardian, looking on in concern as Raindance spills out of the ruined Eagle Armor. "Is he...is he okay?" Rodimus Prime says, "They're gunmetal, Grimlock. There's a difference." Military CO Grimlock says, "You Roddymess think you painter or something? Me gray, you hands gray. No make big issue of it." Heaving a sigh, Ultra Magnus looks to the prone form of Raindance as he goes silent. "... He'll be fine, Twitch. He's used to it." Reloading his weapons, he looks towards the sky, and then back towards the last active Pretender shell. "Grimlock, Bluestreak is in that thing. Try and yank him out of there! It'll shut down the armor!" As he speaks, he moves towards the front line, giving a passing glance towards Galvatron. "Is he coming...?" Blaster manages to roll under the swinging arms of the Eagle armour, and is about to kick it in the back of the legs when it deactivates. glad to see his tape no longer the prisoner of the armour. However his elation at the freedom of the tape turns to concern as Raindance transforms to tape mode. Picking the cassette up he growls, "We'll get you home Raindance, and fixed." He opens his cassette deck and pops Raindance in, looking towards Twitch, "Don't worry, your brother will be fine soon enough." Metal T-Rex sees Raindance spill out of the armor. "See? Me told you Drainpants not wear armor, just be guy with no hands, but nooooo. No listen to Grimlock." A half dozen falling stars fill the skies over Nightseige as the orbital combatants close in on Decepticon Headquarters. Flanking Thunderwing as she and the other Decepticons continue lambasting him, Fusillade snarls to herself. "How can you possibly hope to succeed at this rate?!" She screams over the sound of weapons fire and the sound of air rushing past. "How do you know it's the MATRIX that was calling you, and not something else? HOW?!" Shark Armor turns its face away from Grimlock's fire as he lifts the dino even higher into the air, teeth bared in a near-permanent leer as the eyes focus on Grimlock. It moves sharply, trying to dislodge the Aerialbot before he can cause any damage, and it remains focused on Grimlock. "No!" Bluestreak shouts, completely in a panic, before he's abruptly cut off and the shark-suit slams both fists together--hopefully with Grimlock in between. Galvatron shouts his challenge up into the sky, stentorian voice distant in the thin nitrogen-based atmosphere of Cybertron. "THUNDERWING! I will destroy you! Come to me and receive a TRAITOR's DUE!" Thunder Armor descends from the stratosphere, dropping through a gray-green cloud of acid rain on his towards Nightsiege's headquarters. However, he seems to be in a quasi-controlled tumble rather than flying directly towards the Decepticon fortress -- surrounding him in a deadly aerial ballet are multiple Transformers. "You have seen what I was able to do with /minimal/ facilities on Nebulos, Fusillade -- THINK of what I can do with Cybetron's industrial capital at my disposal!" He offers Astrotrain a fanged grimace, reaching forward and trying to grab the triplechanger's helmet with both hands, trying to pull it close to the vents in his chest armor -- which begin to spew neon-green death gas! "Desperation? I will /teach/ you desperation, Astrotrain." Twitch blinks in surprise at that. Brother? Would that be true? He tilts his gaze from one side to the other, then dips his head down again. "Okay..." he muses at that, watching as Raindance is put back into storage. His gaze then shifts around, noting the new arrivals. "Uh oh." Springer watches the Eagle armor fall, then turns grimly to face the Shark armor still functioning. He marches towards it, firing his rifle from the hip as he approaches. He hears the sound of approaching jets, and shouts over the din of battle, "Guys! I think they're almost here! We've got to finish wrap this up!" Springer strikes Shark Armor with high-powered barrage. Blueshift is in hot pursuit of Thunderwing alongside Fusillade, looking battered and dented but otherwise okay, his usual maniacal grin on his face. "Do not worry, we will dispatch the traitor Galvatron. He will die like none have died before!" Thunder Armor misses Astrotrain with its repeating attack. Arachnae decides that for now, hiding int he fountain is the best idea. So thusly she goes. Soundwave finishes up with the welds on Blockbuster, then stands, running a scanner over him. "Excellent. You should be capable of--" Turning around, Soundwave stares upwards at the descending Thunderwing. "What? How is it he can face so many attackers and still survive?" Soundwave pulls out a medical scanner and runs a check on A-10 Thunderbolt II . The large Cybetronian spacecraft that is Cyclonus who leaps off Thunderwing's hull as the other began his spinning descent, transforms to follow Thunderwing down the atmosphere after the renegade scientist, pulling up sharply as they break through the cloud and levelling out before blazing away at Thunderwing with a blaze of laser fire. Cyclonus strikes Thunder Armor with Laser. "On the contrary, Soundwave," replies Galvatron in a low voice brimming with rage, "he is already dead. He merely continues to move for a short while." Hot on the tail of Thunderwing's massive armoured form, Redshift flies into the area. His armour looking somewhat battered, and his paint scraped, but there's still plenty of fight left in him. Tendrils of smoke and steam lick at Redshift's limbs, evidence of his rapid reentry through Cybertron's thin atmosphere. Unlike his brother Blueshift, Redshift doesn't try and keep within melee distance of the much larger Pretender shell. Nor does he bother trying to communicate with him like Fusillade, since Thunderwing is clearly delusion and mad with power. Instead, he pulls out his long gauss rifle, and takes aim at Thunderwing, hoping to find(or make) a weak spot in the thick armour. With a quick pull of the trigger, Redshift sends a single super sonic slug flying through the air towards Thunderwing's back. Redshift strikes Thunder Armor with Gauss Rifle. Rumble looks up and says, "Ya gotta say, he knows how to make an enterance..." he looks towards Galvatron and laughs, "And he's gonna make a hell of a exit aswell." Sky Lynx follows Thunderwing and the rest of the decepticons as he decends, growling lowly. "Move aside!!" Sky Lynx yells loudly to the rest of the decepticons as he pulls up hard and his ventilation systems start to intake air, a low rumble comming from his systems as they start to pull in allot of power. Sky Lynx's optical band starts to flare white as he growly speaks down to Thunderwing descending, "I.. will protect Cybertron-- and you will not have the matrix!" Then after those words, he raised his head with a beam of light starting to form in front of his mouth before he quickly brought his head down and blast of white blinding light flammed downward right for Thunderwing. Lighting the very skies of Cybertron and making the darkness glow in light for that moment of the blast. The very heat from the blast would be enough for anyone to feel if they were close enough to it. Sky Lynx strikes Thunder Armor with White Flame of Death. Astrotrain growls as he descends with the other Decepticons, letting gravity take over for now rather than shifting to his more space capable mode. "Back on Nebulos ya only had to deal with a slaggin load of squishies that couldn't shoot back iffin they wanted to! Out here ya got a whole buncha mechs with guns that beg to differ. WHo the slag do you think you are that yer gonna....HEY LEGGO!" His head is snatched up in the pretender shell's grip a moment later, and he's pulled closer to Thunderwing's chest with each passing second. "NNGH! Leggoleggoleggo!" He points his rifle down, firing wildly at the chestplate with low yield blasts that do no real damage. But it does give him a chance to wrench himself around, using both of his big blocky triplechanger legs for leverage. Somehow, at the last second he manages to squeeze himself free, squirting out of Thunderwing's grip like a greased up deaf guy, though not before he got at least the BAREST hints of a whiff from that green gas spewing from his chestports. Gagging, he jets straight upwards to get some room, turning and firing his rifle once more at the descending pretender shell. "AGH! Gross!" Astrotrain strikes Thunder Armor with Energy Rifle. Ultra Magnus watches as Thunderwing descends, eyes narrowing upon the massive, approaching form. "He's still going..." he murmurs. Turning quickly -away- from the scene of Thunderwing's approach, Ultra Magnus makes a rapid rush towards the Shark armor, keeping himself low to the ground. "Bluestreak!" The name roared, Magnus swings upwards, attempting to SMASH his fist through the armor once more, grip the Autobot, and PULL him out by force. "Grab onto my hand!" Ultra Magnus strikes Shark Armor with Punch and Grab. Astrotrain says, "Augh! He just tried to NURSE me or somethin. GROSS!" With a howl of rage, Sunder pursues Thunderwing, his claws itching to finish the job that they started. Oh this traitor will pay. Yes, indeed. "I will rip your quasi-organic shell to bits!" the Sweep fumes, baring his claws again, this time attempting to strike with even greater force. Perhaps he will feast on the remains...if it is palatable. But right now the shell doesn't smell very appetizing. Sunder strikes Thunder Armor with evisceration. Galvatron is carrying something- a cylinder about the size of Rumble. He slings it around his neck on a chain and opens his hands, leaping up into the air to soar towards Thunderwing in an attempt to catch him and hurl him to the ground! Galvatron strikes Thunder Armor with A Change of Itinerary. Twitch aiiies as things get REALLY chaotic, and for the moment transforms to take cover in the relative safety that is Blaster. Welcome home, Twitch! Twitch shudders and suddenly folds in on himself, turning into a blue and yellow cassette. Grimlock closes his eyes tight, wincing. After a moment to collect himself, he says, "Oh. Okay, me give you that. That hurt. But you not get something." He wedges his feet between the Pretender and himself and kicks off, tearing his body free from the harpoon. He transforms into robot mode, gains some altitude, then transforms back into a dinosaur and comes crashing down at high speed, hoping the Shark Armor Pretender will still be in the same place when he lands. Grimlock strikes Shark Armor with BELLYFLOP!. Blockbuster, having had his mobility restored, leaps skywards and transformers, engines flaring up full as he climbs rapidly towards the descending group, engines straining as he soars higher and higher, clearing out of the path as Thunderwing is grappled and thrown by the Emperor. The buffeting winds of his passage shake the A-10's airframe in passing, "Oooo... that'll leave a mark..." he murmurs. Shark Armor slowly turns towards Springer as the high-powered shots pelt against its armor, only to face the white Optimus Prime--er, Ultra Magnus--smashing his fist against the armor's already-damaged torso, then it gets knocked flat onto his back from Grimlock's attack. Bluestreak screams as the pain from those attacks striking the shell gets transferred to /him/, but can't see anything more than a slight dent curved towards him. "No... no good!" He stutters, a small echoing 'POW' and a subsequent "OW!" denoting the gunner's failure to punch his own way out fo the shell. The shell, for its part, locks eyes with Grimlock again before stabbing the harpoon towards the Dinobot. Shark Armor strikes Metal T-Rex with Harpoon Jab!. Between the various attacks on the shark shell and the shell's own efforts to throw Fireflight off, the Aerialbot loses his hold and falls to the ground, one hand reaching back as if to check the extent of his damage while he watches the newcomers with a look of awe. Soundwave jumps away from Galvatron and Thunderwing as they start to go at it. The tape commander doesn't really want to mess with THAT fight until he has a better idea of Thunderwing's abiliities. Blueshift hits the ground running, looking up at the big fight as he races to Soundwave. "Nnn sir, this guy is unstobbable. How do you stop something that is unstoppable, you're the clever one, since I guess Scrapper's not about right now..." Rumble kicks a peice of Octomech around as he look up and says, "This is gonna be special, i can see it. Galvatron is gonna kick that punk back to what ever hole he crawled out of." The harpoon is just off center enough to actually expand the same hole that the earlier harpoon attack made in Grimlock's chest. "UGHHH. Oh man, you serious? Harpoon again?" Grimlock turns his body, twisting the harpoon out of the shark armors hands. He grunts with exertion and paint. Grabbing with his wimpy dinosaur hands, he snaps off the end of the harpoon, like a soldier wounded in an old movie might. Then without warning he spins, trying to whip the shark with his tail. Grimlock is trying to tailwhip Shark Armor. "Ey! Paws off my soldiers! Drugging them is MY job!" Fusillade barks out at Thunderwing. At this point, she stops playing nice, and snarls as she extends one hand, thumb raised as she squints optics to get a tracking bead on the descending mech. Still hovering midair, she decides to further soften him up before Galvatron reaches him. Panels on her two-toned grey chest slide open, and a pair of air to air missiles screech out, intended to impact the junction of the shell's neck and chest. Possessive, much? Fusillade strikes Thunder Armor with Guided Missile. Grimlock strikes Shark Armor with Tailwhip. Thunder Armor is struck with a barrage of attacks, knocking even the massive armored shell side to side through the air. Sky Lynx's powerful energy beam strikes him square in the back, forcing his entire body to arc, limbs spread wide and eyes flashing brightly in pain. Transforming, the Thunder Armor emits a cacophonous sonic boom - engines boosting to launch him right towards Galvatron to meet the Decepticon leader head on. "Ah At last, Galvatron, it all ends." >> ENGAGE: EMERGENCY ENERGY RESERVES << Thunderwing's bomb bay doors slide open, right in front of Galvatron, unleashing a wanton "fusillade" (lower case "f") of energy bombs with a suicidal lack of care. "THE CLEANSING COMES!" He howls, over the roar of exploding energy spheres. Thunder Armor strikes you with area_ranged for 15 points of damage. Thunder Armor unleashes its area_ranged attack on Blueshift, Springer, Rumble, Soundwave, Galvatron, Thunder Armor and Ultra Magnus, striking Ultra Magnus, Springer, Soundwave, Rumble, Thunder Armor and Blueshift. Sky Lynx shakely falls, as his systems attempt to recover from the blast. He circles around high in the air, watching ansi(Wx, Thunderwing) closely as he drops the massive bombs, "..primus.." He whispers to himself as he pulls up slightly to avoid getting caught in the explosion and to come around again to see if he can get enough strength back up to slam into the traitor of a decepticon. Arachnae only wants to find someplace to have a lie down. Right now the world isn't registering correctly. Her orders were to find someplace and stay there. That's the thought she's holding onto to keep the rage at bay. A glance upwards at the incoming and impending disaster about to strike and she murmurs, "Thunderwing... this is not going to end well for you.. Brilliant designs, but ultimatly foolish to challenge Galvatron." She climbs over the fountain edge and sinks beneath the surface. Cyclonus dives toward Thunderwing as he sees the bomb bay doors slide open, his engine output blazing brightly as he heads for Thunderwing as fast as he can, in an attempt to ram the other and cause the flood of missiles to be directed away from Galvatron and as many of the other transformers as possible. Cyclonus strikes Thunder Armor with Ram. Springer watches the Shark Armor continues to absorb all of their attacks. "Keep on it guys! It's gotta be running of vapors by now!" He runs towards the Shark Armor, when Thunderwing's attack sends explosions blossoming all around. For a moment Springer is obscured by fire and smoke, but then he emerges in racecar mode, still headed straight at the Shark Armor. Vroom vroom! Sky Lynx shakely falls, as his systems attempt to recover from the blast. He circles around high in the air, watching Thunderwing closely as he drops the massive bombs, "..primus.." He whispers to himself as he pulls up slightly to avoid getting caught in the explosion and to come around again to see if he can get enough strength back up to slam into the traitor of a decepticon. Rumble is struck by a massive blast, the impact picked up the tape bot, Lifted him off the floor and threw him a hundred feet away from where he was standing. But from the point the wave of the blast struck him Rumble was out of it. The ragdoll form of Rumble smashes into a wall and lands in a pile of rubble, He then is covered in the rest of the wall as it falls on top of him. He wakes up and shouts, "FRAG!" He tries to get out but's it's just too much to lift. He remains silent for a moment. Rumble then says, "Slag this, I'm getting out of here." he then starts to dig himself out slowly. Soundwave apparently didn't run fast enough to escape Thunderwing's bombs, and he finds himself caught in the explosion of one. "RRRRGH!" he growls as he collapses onto his aft again. "He is not unstoppbable, Blueshift. Even Unicron was destroyed! And so Thunderwing can be destroyed as well." Settling into a kneeling position, Soundwave aims a palm at Thunderwing and unleashes a sonic blast at him. "Merely fire upon him until he falls!" he emits Astrotrain stops his ascent after he had kicked off, coming to a hover once more before he starts descending again, his rifle snapping off a few more shots. Damned if he isn't finding himself getting into this big dogpile. "Haw haw haw! Yeah lookit that! He's barely hangin on and a bunch of us are still goin strong!" "I got a whole keg for the one that drops him! Unless yer a bot, in which case you suck!" With that said he fires several more blasts, dropping down on 'even' level with the others. Astrotrain strikes Thunder Armor with Pewpewpew!. Soundwave strikes Thunder Armor with Sonic BOOM!. Preparing himself to engage the last rogue Pretender Shell again, Ultra Magnus is blindsided from a sudden EXPLOSION igniting across his back, with more than enough force to send the Autobot City Commander sky-rocketing through the air. Body smoking from the exlosive impact, Magnus soars, striking ground several feet from Thunderwing's rampage. "Ugh..." he let's out, looking upwards towards the rogue scientist as energy bombs EXPLODE all around him. "... -this- is where it ends, Thunderwing." Twin plasma rifles armed, he points them directly at the massive Thunderwing, optics narrowing in sheer determination. "Give IT UP! There's no more mercy to be afforded for you!" "Yours is the only story ending today, Thunderwing," snarls Galvatron as he spins in midair to dodge the barrage of explosions, hurtling after Thunderwing with the cylinder in hand. "I knew you might turn on me, that your madness was too much to be borne by one mind, however expansive! So I had the Constructicons whip up a little something special!" He twists the endcap- a pale blue gas begins to stream out. "This gas, which Mixmaster so poetically named Silent Spring, is instantly lethal to all forms of organic life- it will melt the transorganic flesh off of the very bones of your misguided creations, Thunderwing!" With a mighty thrust he hurls the silver cylinder towards Thunderwing. Galvatron strikes Thunder Armor with Operation: Silent Spring. Ultra Magnus strikes Thunder Armor with Dual Plasma Rifles . Sunder is in the air when the Pretender unleashes his attack, so remains unscathed. Sticking to melee attacks for now, he reaches into his subspace pocket and produces his small dagger. Handling it in a manner that would indicate he's about to stab someone in the back, he maneuvers so that he's behind his target. "Let me show you how this is REALLY done," he hisses, as he attempts to bury the weapon into the back of Thunderwing's pretender shell. Sunder strikes Thunder Armor with blade. Shark Armor roars as one of its harpoons is broken, then staggers to the side and twists slightly as Grimlock's tail slams across its face. Springer's charge into its side further staggers it as it leeeeeeeeeans dangerously close to toppling. The explosions, while causing no damage, finish the job and both the fin and the engine on its back are crushed. Bluestreak grimaces, more pain searing through him, but his vocalizer is about shot at this point. The shell, apparently not liking getting damaged like this, lashes out with its undamaged harpoon at Springer's vehicle mode. Shark Armor strikes Cyber-Car with Harpoon Stab!. Blueshift is blasted off his feet by the explosions, scowling at the rubble that lies around him, rubbing his head in pain. "Nnnn, this is why the sky is better!" He turns to Soundwave as his boss gives the plan. "That's the worst plan ever!" But still, he punches a fist up, firing flechettes at Thunderwing You strike Thunder Armor with Fletchettes. The canister bursts upon impact, tendrils of odorless and deadly mist drifting slowly down from the billowing cloud. The gas, heavier than air, begins to settle onto the ground, filling the courtyard, and as it does so the pretender suits begin to boil and crackle, foul-smelling steam hissing off of them as the meat quite literally dissolves away into murk, sloughing off of the metal endoskeletons in wet chunks. The octopoid armor is the first to go, as it has the fewest bones, dissolving into a stinking pool, but the eagle armor follows it rapidly, collapsing into a heap of muck, and the shark armor begins to drip and split. Thunderwing, somehow, seems the least affected, however! Redshift stays in the air above Thunderwing, keeping himself out of harm's way, but probaly making himself look like a coward in the process. Discretion is the better part of valor? Redshift even with Thunderwing transforming into his spacecraft mode agai,n Redshift uses his incredibly high robot mode speed to stay close behind him. As the traitor unleashes a barrage of bombs, Redshift fires off the few rounds remaining in his rifle at the explosives, hoping to stop at least a few of them from killing his fellow Decepticons. He saves one last round in his magazine for later, just in case.... Then Redshift proceeds to open fire on Thunderwing with his ruby-red optic lasers. Redshift strikes Thunder Armor with Optic Beams. Mother Goose Fusillade says, "'Ey. Let's get him on the floor!" Blueshift says, "Nnnn always the same with you, isn't it Fusillade!" Astrotrain says, "Yeeeah I wanna get an imprint of him on my ram prow!" Redshift says, "If we concentrate our fire, using high explosives, maybe we can crack his shell and get to the traitor inside!" Mother Goose Fusillade says, "The other armors ARE melting... maybe he's too high up in the air to get a full dose." The Creepy One, Sunder says, "Perhaps a full dose of plasma will roast the traitor in-the-shell." Astrotrain doesn't sound in the least bit disappointed, "Awww, so we gotta do it the old fashioned way. Whatta shame." Galvatron says, "If Mixmaster has miscalculated the dosage... no, he should at least be affected! What treachery is this? Decepticons, keep up your fire!" Sky Lynx succeeds in grasping Thunder Armor , throwing it off-balance. Astrotrain says, "We'll beat him down, Boss!" Sky Lynx Continues to fly overhead, his systems feeling slightly better as he goes up higher in the sky, then he arches around and the heads right for Thunderwing], his thrusters going at full, as he attempts to use his speed, size, and distance of fall to bring the much larger mech down to the ground. "Come Thunderwing! I will give your 'Cleansing!'" Sky Lynx with claws out, slams into the much larger mech. The pain itself of the impact noticable under his growl, then he tries to snap his teeth onto the very metal armor of the much larger mech. Sky Lynx strikes Thunder Armor with Chomp-down!. Cyclonusflies around Thunderwing, his pistol held in his right hand, before raising it and levelling it at Thunderwing's knee joint before a bright white bolt of plasma emerges from the barrel to hopefully collide and damage the joint there. Cyclonus strikes Thunder Armor with Plasma. The A-10 had been looking for a clean opening, and the order being given to hammer the shell with all he can take is enough for Blockbuster. His engines throttle up as he screams down from the skies overhead, engines burning hot as he runs a fresh targeting profile to his Maverick Missile, "Lets put this thing down, once and for all!" the missile drops away, a plume of smoke trailing it as the armor piercing projectile screams towards Thunderwing, bouncing up at the last moment and angling straight down to slam into the widest profile of the suit. Blockbuster strikes Thunder Armor with AGM-65 Maverick. Rubble shakes around as Rumble pounds his way out of the trap hes been in. He slowly stands up and looks at the himself and the large cracks accross his armor, "That punk! Once he hits that floor i'm gonna have his head as a ashtray!" he staggers towards where the fight is happening high above and and falls backwards, "I'll watch this for a bit while my stuff fixes itself... Yea..." his optics flicker as he watchs the battle above. "WELL, looks like there's something else going on with the tech," Fusillade calls out, still hovering midair. Heeding Galvatron's beck and call, dutifully firing off a few rounds toward Thunderwing. Fusillade strikes Thunder Armor with Low Output Shot. Following his carpet-bombing run, Thunderwing transforms, feet slamming into the scorched cyberturf beneath him. He rises up from a crouch, his fists clenched and arms flexed at his sides, pointed teeth set in a grimace. "Nngh" He groans, wading forward, a veritable wall of energy beams and ordinance and exploding and washing over his armored form. "You waste your EFFORTS!" He says, throwing his arms over his head and causing the focused beams of energy weapons to deflect away from him, allowing him to advance upon Galvatron once more. When the gas cylinder crashes at his feet, though, the armor seizes up Apparently paralyzed by the toxin. It crawls up his body, sizzling as it bites at the organic parts of his armored form. WARNING: TOXIN DETECTED. ENGAGE RHEANIMUM INJECTION Thunderwing hisses, his shoulders heaving as the shell breathes deep, labored breaths, a gas-shrouded shadow. TOXIN PURGED. SYSTEMS: NOMINAL. The vampiric Pretender steps out of the gas cloud, his mouth twisted into a smirk of triumph. "I see plans within plans, Galvatron. Your most clever neural pattern is the equivalent of my dormant cycle. Now, I will--!" He is cut off as Sky Lynx careens into him from behind, slamming the shell forward into a stumble. "ENOUGH!" He bellows, reaching to grab at Sky Lynx's neck yet again and trying to whip the giant Transformer at Galvatron like a gigantic flail! Thunder Armor unleashes its area_melee attack on Sky Lynx and Galvatron, striking Galvatron and Sky Lynx. Astrotrain says, "Please tell me yer gonna hole him straight through, Boss. Pretty please?" Galvatron says, "You may rely on it, Astrotrain!" Soundwave stands up, watching as the gas sweeps over Thunderwing. "Ah, you see, Blueshift? Galvatron had a plan, and anticipated Thunderwing's treachery just as I did. The gas should melt his suit just as it is melting the others." He watches for a moment, and steps back in alarm. "What? It is having no effect! I do not understand! This new suit must be an enhanced version!" He dares to run up close to the insane Pretender, running a medical scanner over him. "If Thunderwing has a weakness in his armor, I will discover it, Lord Galvatron!" Soundwave intones. After a few sweeps with the scanner, Soundwave takes a few steps back, staring at the readout, as if he can't believe what the scanner is telling him. Did he discover something very odd? At the very least, he manages duck under the Lynx-flail before it smacks him in the face. Soundwave pulls out a medical scanner and runs a check on Thunder Armor . Blueshift is looking quite beat up, but still he continues, running behind Thunderwing and starting to blast pulse after pulse of laser fire at the mech's back. "We are Decepticons, we never give up! Not in the face of traitors! Not in the face of glaring defeat!" Bless him. You strike Thunder Armor with Vernier. Rising higher in the air, Sunder transforms to Sweepcraft mode. He notices with chagrin that the toxin that was supposed to eat away the organic armor that the Decepticons threw at Thunderwing isn't working so well. "If you won't come out of there, I shall roast you in-the-shell, traitor!" Sunder howls, then unleashes his deadly dual plasma cannons. Sunder strikes Thunder Armor with plasma. Green Cyber-Car gets skewered by the Shark Armor's harpoon. Springer manages to transform into robot mode, Harpoon still sticking in his shoulder and probably through some delicate internal systems. Instead of trying to pull it out, Springer leaves it there, and even grabs on with the hand from his injured arm. With his other arm he slashes away at the Harpoon with his sword, trying his best to seperate the Shark Armor from it's remaining harpoon. Springer strikes Shark Armor with Slash. Galvatron goes sailing across the courtyard and crashes through the fountain, fetching up against a wall. "Thunderwing, your treason knows no bounds! If I must seal you away, entomb you in steel like the heathen kings of old, to deliver you unto eternity... then SO BE IT!" Galvatron strikes Thunder Armor with Fusion Cannon (high output). Astrotrain descends finally, just as Thunderwing lands...the triplechanger also landing with a heavy *THOOM* a moment later. Albeit a smaller one than Thunderwing's huge frame. "A'right...THAT'S it!" he announces, lifting his arms and transforming as his rifle goes flying off into nowhere. He slams down on his eight huge, steel wheels a moment later, thick smoke belching out from his stack as he suddenly rumbles forward. "I'm sick and tired of you, Thunderwing! Yer goin down, whether it's through new toys or the GOOD. OLD. FASHIONED WAY!" Picking up speed, the locomotive hurtles towards his target. He's knocked over Dinobots, and even sent Gestalts crashing to the ground before! And so he aims straight at the pretender's right foot. Astrotrain strikes Thunder Armor with Ram. Mother Goose Fusillade says, "DO IT" "Don't lighten up for a second, Autobots! Don't give him any quarter!" As Magnus yells the orders, he sweeps down, gripping a massive chunk of debris within his metal grip. The Pretender strikes out with crushing force against Sky Lynx and Galvatron; the latter Magnus doesn't seem too concerned about, but the former-- "Sky Lynx!" Leaping through the air, Magnus LUNGES towards Thunderwing, attempting to JAM that massive chunk of rubble straight into the Pretender's head. "You're mad, Thunderwing! You need to give up this armor of yours, it's -- driving you insane!" Ultra Magnus strikes Thunder Armor with Rubble Bludgeon. Fusion Artillery hits the ground in his fusion artillery mode and fires a searing purple blast back across the courtyard, the Silent Spring gas roiling in a cyclone around the energy beam as it slices across the length of the courtyard and punches through the wall of one of the smelting vats on the far side, behind Thunderwing. The vat crumbles and begins to topple down towards Thunderwing. Galvatron says, "Focus your fire on the smelting vat supports!" Blueshift says, "Of course, my lord!" Mother Goose Fusillade says, "Aye aye." Galvatron says, "Soundwave, tell the Autobots to do the same!" Commander Soundwave says, "As you wish, Lord." Fusillade leans forward, wingblades whipping out to their full span, even as her arms lock backward in place as the rear fuselage. Her torso folds out to the become the cockpit of a Terran B-1B Lancer, ready for flight! Redshift scowls as the 'secret weapon' of toxic, corrosive gas seem to do little to slow down the massive form of Thunderwing, in his Ultra Pretender shell. The small red Decepticon remains high above the battlefield, straining his meagre energon supplies and taxing his antigravs, but also keeping himself in one piece, and out of reach of Thunderwing. A grin replaces the scowl as Galvatron unleashes the power of his Unicron-desined cannon mode. While that's definatly going to leave a mark, Redshift isn't gone to place any bets on it keeping Thunderwing down for the count. Commander Soundwave says, "Ultra Magnus has already given the order to his Autobots." Redshift pulls out his oversized rocket launcher, and fires off a red-tipped warhead at the support beams for the conveniently placed smelting vats. Redshift strikes Thunder Armor with Fusion Rocket. Soundwave turns his attention towards the support beams, firing upon them several times with his concussion rifle. Of course, once the thing collapses, the next issue to worry about will be how to get Thunderwing into that stuff! Sky Lynx yelps as Thunderwing takes ahold of his neck once more, the mech fluid from the area being damaged yet again starting to leak out slightly over the other mechs hands, then before he can retilate he is used like a fail, feeling his very tail slam into Galvatron, causing damage to his tail-fin. As the others attack, Sky Lynx struggles to free himself and ignites his blaster once more blasting flames right for the very mech who holds him, even the small mech-fluid starting to come from his mouth, gets ignited onto flames. Sky Lynx strikes Thunder Armor with Flame attack. As Galvatron shifts orders, Fusillade regains altitude, clawing up through the skies through the meager atmosphere. The space-capable Lancer then quite happily slaps down the perforated wind baffle from the long split of the trio of bomb bays that open up along her belly. At that point, she shoves out the bulk of her ordnance onto the lip of the already ruined vat. Sure a few bombs from the stick might stray Thunderwing's way... Arachnae pokes her head over the fountain lip, gives a shake and watches with a flat expression the continuing madness and chaos. As Rumble draws near, she reaches out to jerk the small mechanoid into the relative safety of the waters. Cyclonus takes off again as he sees that his attack has had no effect, transforming in mid flight, before he flies high up before changing course to fly over where Galvatron stands before banking sharply to put him on a line with Thunderwing's chest. His engines cut out, turning him into an extremely large glider, as the majority of his power is routed to charging up all the banks of capcitors before two large beams fire outward, connecting as they leave the barrel, before turning into one large superbeam. Eat your heart out, Death Star! Grimlock shakes his head trying to clear it. "Okay, okay, Space Kitty try to come save Dinobot Island, me save Space Kitty already. But me also have to take care of stupid prochickentender. AHA! Me know!" He dives at the shark armor, mouth-first, and grabs the seafood monster. With a snap, he throws the hapless monster at the vat, hoping to end two threats at once. "How many times me have to tell you, ME GRIMLOCK KING!" Grimlock unleashes its Vat Bounce Hat Trick attack on Shark Armor and Thunder Armor , striking Shark Armor and Thunder Armor . Grimlock smiles in self-satisfaction as the shark armor bounces off of the vat, landing a safe distance away from the main event. "Just like me Grimlock intended! Me hate it when me make snappy pronouncement and totally miss." Shark Armor 's organic skin bubbles, peels, and sloughs off of its frame, but it's hardly destroyed just yet. It roars as its other harpoon is slashed free, then slowly moves to try to kneel and get even a slightest bit of a vertical base. Bluestreak, for his part, feels like his own armor is getting seared off of his frame--like an acid or plasma bath. "GET ME OUT OF HERE!" He screams, futilely punching at the armoring seperating him from the outside. Then Grimlock grabs the shell and, before it could retaliate, throws it at the vats--with him still inside. "YAAAAAGH!" *BANG* The armor slams into the vat's supports, knocking one or two supports out and getting speared through the chest by one of those broken supports, before it bounces away, rolls clear of the fight, and lies still as it continues to deteriorate. Even Bluestreak is silent. KOOM! KOOM! KOOM! One by one, the various smelting vats collapse and tumble onto their sides, dumping their white-hot contents of liquid slag onto the battlefield. The sparking liquid rushes like a tidal wave in all directions towards Thunderwing, who realizes all too late that he is standing in the bottom of one of his own blast craters - which begins to fill with liquid metal! "What?" His optics flash as his neural net calculates the inevitable outcome all too late. "No NO!" He transforms, releasing Sky Lynx, but the flag has fused with his legs, and the crater continues to fill at a rapid pace, the Thundership belly flopping into scorching hot liquid metal. "NOOOOOO!" His engines kick on, but only succeed in bubbling and frothing the slag behind him. The crater continues to fill until all that is left is a placid lake of cooling liquid metal, the ripples and bubbles on its surface the only indication of Thunderwing's struggle. Cyclonus looks even more grim as his cannon shot seems to have no effect before he turns around, gripping his sword tightly in his right hand, before he flies toward where the vats are standin just before they start to topple over. He flies higher as the liquid starts to flow across the ground before looking down at Thunderwing as the other falls down into the liquid. "Enjoy your deconstruction, fool." Sky Lynx is thrown away from the melting pot of hot liquid goodness and clangs across the ground a few times. He lays there for a moment coughing as he slowly forces himslef to stand and move over to where Thunderwing was. Coughing some mech fluid to the side as he sits there over the pit, looking downward into it, "Did-- we win?" He asks, his vocalizer a bit scratchy but still working. As the liquid metal splashes everywhere in a torrent, Blueshift finds himself quite near the outpouring. "Oh nonono!" he emits, as he starts to use his damaged boosters to fly away. Waves of liquid metal start to catch at his feet, quickly solidifying. "NnnNN help here!" he cries out to anyone in particular Galvatron transforms back into his normal mode, smoke drifting from his cannon barrel. "Thus ever to those who would usurp tyrants," he pronounces gravely, overlooking the pool of rapidly cooling metal. He turns to favor Ultra Magnus and Grimlock with a level gaze. "Autobots, our cease fire is ended, and you find yourself on Decepticon land. Begone if you value your lives!" Transforming back, Fusillade sets down lightly on a building rampart as she watches the crater fill in, with the jet howling and floundering about like a mammoth caught in a tar pit. "Awwwwwww," she finally murmurs regretfully as the silver and blue cockpit slides under the slag. "The hard candy shell on the outside was nice. Not so sure about the chewy nut on the inside, though." She sits down on the ledge, saffron optics wide. Springer runs over to the dissolving remains of the Shark Armor. "Blue? You okay in there?!" He reaches down and tries to help Bluestreak out. "Get out of there! I think...I think they might have finished off Thunderwing. But there's molten metal sloshing around all over the place out here!" Grimlock seems pretty relaxed, even though he still has a harpoon in his gut. "Someone go dig Bluestreak out of prochickentender now that me, Grimlock save everyone." Hearing Galvatron's rude announcement, Grimlock scowls. "Just like stupid 'Cepticon. Grabatron, you remember this: you may be big stupid purple guy with yellow gun that hurts a lot, but you needed DINOBOT to save you from you own stupid troop. You think 'bout that." "Ok, now let's throw the slag into a sun." Redshift says, eyeing the results of everyone's combined efforts... Thunderwing sealed in a coffin of hot steel. Oh-oh, there's Blueshift, getting himself into trouble again. Redshift dives down, and tries to aid his brother. "Yu're going to ruin my reputation if I keep having to save your butt, Blue!" Shark Armor 's organic components continues to disintegrate at a steadily exponential rate, but there's no response from the gunner within. Bluestreak's completely knocked offline--apparently he had gotten knocked out at about the same time the shell had slammed into the vat's support-beams. Fortunately, it seems like he had avoided any actual injury, but he's out cold--so Springer would likely manage to grab hold of Bluestreak's shoulder, but wouldn't get a response. Arachnae hnnnngs as th vat falls over and molten metal spews everwhere. The screams of Thunderwing as he is encompased brings a crooked smile to her face. Still having a hand on Rumble, she leaps upwards, hauling the casseticon with her to avoid any difficulties with the metal meeting the fountains liquid componants. Launching into the air with his antigravity drive, Soundwave manages to safely avoid the liquid metal before it touches him. Upon observing Blueshift getting ensnared in the stuff, however, Soundwave decides to help the poor guy out... namely by shooting off his feet with two well-placed blasts. "Do not worry, Blueshift. I will... help you." KRAKOW! KRAKOW! Soundwave strikes you with Concussion Bolt for 16 points of damage. Locomotive backs out suddenly as the pool begins filling up, getting clear of the crater and transforming when he reaches the lip. Lifting up on his two large feet, Astrotrain watches with no small amount of pleasure as Thunderwing is swallowed up in the tidal wave of molten slag, but in the end, he's left setting his hands up near his mouth as he shouts out, "Hey THunderwing! Even when you're DYING you suck!" Sky Lynx hears Galvatron's words to Ultra Magnus, however as he looks downward upon where the battle-field was he notices the liquid moving for Bluestreak and springer, "..oh for the slagging pit.." Sky Lynx mutters, coughing a few more times as he rises to his feet and leaps down, flying over the molten metal and lands on the bankment next to Springer and Bluestreak, "Is.. he responding? We-- don't have much time.." However with the lack of response, Sky Lynx then uses his large teeth to pull away the prentder armor like opening up a can, and then flings it off in the distance, hopefully not smacking some decepticon on the way. "Get him out of here.. Now!" Redshift says, "Seriously. Let's scoop up the whole mess and throw it into a sun." Galvatron says, "Redshift and Blueshift, guard the pool until it has solidified so that the Constructicons can cut out the portion containing Thunderwing and fire him into the nearest star." Blueshift says, "Of course my liege!" Astrotrain says, "Too bad. He coulda made a nice statue." Redshift reloads his rifle. "Roger that, Galvatron." Rumble is grabbed, Someone has grabbed Rumble, Who dares, He looks up and says, "What the Frag!? What are you doing? I was just resting my optics!" He struggles as he sees the slurry around the fountain he turns back and sees Arachnae and says in a very VERY low tone that is designed to be heard by no one NO ONE can hear, "thanks" he then turns quickly as he says, "What the frag is this crud!? Where is that creep that tried to take me out!" he looks for that bum... Galvatron scowls at Grimlock, refusing to acknowledge his help. "Take your men and get out of here, Magnus, this place is not for you." Blueshift gives a yelp as Soundwave shoots his foot. "Nnnn THANKS Soundwave, you are a true gentleman." He starts to stamp hard upon the now solid metal surface. "Sucks to be you Thunderwing! That was easy, wasn't it!" Arachnae snorts and hovers. "Rumble, methinks he is currently becoming one with the slag pit." Flat tone, but she does shift her grip so it doesn't look like she's got Rumble in a nape-carry(think bad puppy). "And the crud is slag." Smirk. She doesn't respond to the almost not there words save for a slight nod of her head. Sweepcraft almost seems to purr as Thunderwing is brought down by the massive molten-metal filled vats. Transforming smoothly, he settles down near the fountain, to see if his wingsib Arachnae is alright. Wrinkling his nose, he hisses in the direction of the slagged traitor. "I had given thought to gnawing on his remains, but the stench coming from them is so foul, I think I shall not," he growls, "A fitting end to bad rubbish." Redshift lands lightly on the rapidly cooling slag. He reloads his gauss rifle and grips it firmly, eyesing the Autobots warily in case they decide to turn on the Decepticons, even after what's happened. He doesn't take aim at anyone, not yet at least, since he lacks the energon to really put up a fight. Arachnae happens to have some lingering suit-funk on her so she simply stares at Sunder a moment. "Right." Tone flat. Blueshift stares at Sunder too. "Yeah, uh, I was thinking of gnawing on his remains, but then I though 'oh hang on, I am not a slagging /animal/!" He gives a huff and folds his arms Grimlock balls his fists up. "You know what? Me sick of this." He walks right up to Galvatron. "Look, jerkotron, me save you stupid bacon and you can't even say 'THANK YOU GRIMLOCK YOU AM SO GREAT!' Well, me have present for you, big stupid purple jerk." He opens his size wide and hot fire bursts out of his mouth. It's not a torrent of molten metal, but it is still pretty hot. Springer watches the Decepticons closely, backing away a few steps without quite turning his back to Galvatron or Soundwave. "Autobots, looks like we've worn out our welcome here." He transforms and lifts off after Sky Lynx. "Sky Lynx, let's get that thing back to Iacon...we can have the techs get Blue out of that armor and then check our own status." Arachnae says, "Give them a three count and shoot on 2?" Grimlock strikes Galvatron with Here's some fire, you big jerk.. Rumble emits as he says, "Yea, My fight engines are busted... perhaps this would be a little easier..." he transforms slowly into his tape mode in Arachnae's hand. Standing back up, Fusillade stands, and smooths wingblades along her thighs. She sidles up to Astrotrain, she murmurs, "So, whaddya think? Autobots taking their sweet time vacating?" She grins wickedly, and snaps off one wingblade segment, squinting as she lines up the tip of the weapon with the back of Sky Lynx's cranium, and lets it fly. Harmless enough, but maybe not THAT harmless if the others decide to take her lead. TINK! Fusillade strikes Sky Lynx with Wingblade Slice. "Two," says the extremely angry Galvatron, cryptically, as he raises his cannon and returns fire! Galvatron strikes Metal T-Rex with Fusion Cannon (low output). Arachnae widens her optics and carefully keeps a hold of the tape. "Could've just put you on my shoulder, shortstack." Somehow, the flat tone makes the term less harsh. In the aftermath of the assault, Ultra Magnus looks around him, leveling a glare on Galvatron as he speaks. "I'd like to say it was nice while it lasted... but that's a lie." Shaking his head, Ultra Magnus gestures to his fellow Autobots. "Let's move out, people. We're in enemy territory here. And... good work. To all of you." Giving a brief nod towards Galvatron, Magnus turns to look -- just in time to see Grimlock attack the purple tyrant. "Grimlock! Stop, we don't have the time or the resources for a fight now! -None- of us do. Pull -back-!" Sky Lynx nods and goes to take Bluestreak gently in his mouth before he hears a clink on his arm, he looks in the direction directly at Fusillade before he coughs out some mech fluid to the side and hisses. He then gently picks up Bluestreak and takes off into the air, thought his flight performance is questionable. "Just can't take a hint, can ya!?" Astrotrain offers then as Grimlock goes and breathes fire on Galvatron. The triplechanger raises his rifle, preparing to fire...that is, until he makes a mistake and steps his foot into the edge of the hot slag. "AIIE! HOT FOOT HOT FOOT!" And away he goes, hopping and waving his hands wildly. Soundwave aims his concussion rifle at the Autobots and squeezes the trigger--click click! His voice box rumbling in annoyance, he looks over his rifle--seems he used the last shot on Blueshift. Curse him! Arachnae ahhs and flares wings outwards, powering dynamos while getting Rumble to her shoulder. "Two!" And thusly sending forth her own pyrotechnics. Not at anyone specifically, moreso an in the general direction thereof. She's not up to trusting her own targeting at this moment. *BOOM!* That's the noise of Galvatron's fusion cannon nailing Grimlock in the gut and sending him flying right to Ultra Magnus' feet. "Me hate that guy." Realizing that the Autobots were dawdling for far too long, and seeing Grimlock attack Galvatron, Sunder utters a low, rasping hiss at the Autobots, warming up his headcannon for good measure. Just in case... Breakdown walks over and shakes his aft section at the molten slag. "Na na na na na Thunderbutt!" He chuckles then looks around suspiciously. "That's the only thanks you'll get from me, Grimlock!" snaps Galvatron, wiping off some of the still-burning kerosene the King Dinobot breathed on him. "You're only lucky that I'm not fully refulled!" Breakdown Then waves his fist at the dinobot "Yeah, what he said dinobutt!" Breakdown gathers a pile of rubble and sits on it, "gaurding" the slag as he pets his gun. "We'll be ready, won't we Mary Sue...yes.." He stares all most trance-like into the slag